{"id":525,"date":"2021-08-24T20:34:24","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T20:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/?p=525"},"modified":"2022-07-01T11:55:44","modified_gmt":"2022-07-01T15:55:44","slug":"reducing-textile-waste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/reducing-textile-waste\/","title":{"rendered":"Stemming the Tide of Textile Waste"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Castoff clothing and other items add some 25 billion pounds to U.S. landfills each year\u2014but Hum Ec researchers aim to change that<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Beth Saulnier<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Americans contemplate the contents of their local landfill\u2014if they think about it at all\u2014the images that come to mind likely involve piles of rotting food, some greasy pizza boxes and broken toys, discarded wrappers, old appliances, maybe plastic containers that didn\u2019t make it into the recycling bin. But as Big Red researchers point out, there\u2019s a major contributor to the waste stream that most of us don\u2019t even think about: our old clothes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to figures from the nonprofit Council for Textile Recycling<\/a>, the U.S. generates some 25 billion pounds of post-consumer textile waste each year\u2014a category that includes not only clothing but footwear, accessories, bedding, towels, and more. Of that, just 15% is recycled or donated for reuse, with the vast majority going straight to the dump. The resulting detritus comprises a whopping seventy pounds per person annually. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn this country we buy a lot, and we don\u2019t necessarily buy quality\u2014and then 85% of that ultimately ends up in the landfill,\u201d says Human Ecology grad student Kat Roberts. \u201cSo we\u2019re talking about tons and tons of waste.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Professor
Professor Tasha Lewis in the Fiber Science studio with her Fiberizer machine. (Photo by Jason Koski\/Cornell University)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n

One of Roberts\u2019s mentors on the Hill\u2014Tasha Lewis, PhD \u201909<\/a>, an associate professor of fiber science and apparel design\u2014has been focusing her research on ways to cut down on that waste, and to make the fashion industry more sustainable overall. In recent years, Lewis has published papers on such topics as ways to promote \u201cslow fashion\u201d (which, in contrast to trendy and disposable \u201cfast fashion,\u201d involves the creation and marketing of high-quality, long-lasting items) and creating a zero-waste model for apparel reuse and recycling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe \u2018circular economy\u2019 is the idea that you can take waste and turn it into something renewable, something that can be used again,\u201d says Lewis, herself a designer who has made clothing from fabric reclaimed from castoff apparel. \u201cThat\u2019s where my research is\u2014trying to understand how we can be more circular in how we think about our fashion when it gets to the end of its life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Drawbacks of \u2018fast fashion\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A major reason why clothing ends up in landfills is that it\u2019s increasingly seen as cheap and disposable, representing a dramatically lower portion of our budgets than it once did: according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 1901 the average household spent 14% of its income on apparel, while nowadays it\u2019s 3%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that clothing is more affordable than ever, so even Americans of limited means can have large and varied wardrobes. The bad news is that a $9 top or $15 pair of jeans\u2014almost certainly made overseas; Lewis notes that some 97% of apparel sold in the U.S. is imported\u2014probably isn\u2019t designed to last. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When our cheap clothes get worn or damaged, we\u2019re more likely to toss them than mend them; if they\u2019re no longer fashionable or don\u2019t fit, items that cost barely more than a sandwich are easy to jettison. \u201cWe\u2019ve gotten used to seeing a lower price point,\u201d says Lewis. \u201cWe\u2019ve disconnected on value, quality, and cost, and what you get for that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among Lewis\u2019s research projects is the development of a machine, known as the Fiberizer<\/a>, that shreds old garments into a fibrous mass that can be reused in a variety of industries, from apparel to home d\u00e9cor to gardening. As one of her collaborators, Anil Netravali, the Jean and Douglas McLean Professor in Fiber Science and Apparel Design, explains: \u201cIt breaks the fibers into pieces so small that they can\u2019t be used directly to make yarn. But even then there are lots of uses for the fibers\u2014for example in futons, insulation, filling for stuffed animals. Instead of all virgin material, we can use material that has been fiberized.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project is ongoing, and Lewis and her team are working to improve the machine\u2019s capabilities. \u201cWe were finding that different materials required different approaches,\u201d says Lewis, who got logistical help on the project from Eileen Fisher\u2019s recycled clothing line. \u201cWe had one set of cutting blades that could shred certain fabrics but not others. That\u2019s another challenge with fashion: we use many types of fabrics\u2014and they look great and have different properties, but they don\u2019t all break down the same.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

America\u2019s castoffs, abroad<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For Lewis, the magnitude of the issue of castoff clothing hit home when she went on research trips to Haiti in 2013\u201314. That country is a major importer of America\u2019s previously worn apparel via the so-called rag trade: the best items are sold in U.S. thrift shops, while the majority is shipped to the developing world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That category of used clothing is actually part of the virtuous 15% that doesn\u2019t<\/em> end up in American landfills. But it comprises an enormous amount of material, and it\u2019s a disposal stream that\u2019s drying up; some countries, particularly in Africa, have begun to resist the imports on the grounds that they stifle the local textile economy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe volume of clothing I saw made me realize that these are all things out of our closets that end up somewhere else,\u201d Lewis recalls of the Haiti visits, noting that the experience affected her not only as a scholar but as a shopper. \u201cIt really made me think about what we buy. Do you really wear it? Do you really need it? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love shopping and fashion, but now I try to think about longevity and versatility. I pick things that I could wear with a bunch of other things, that I could wear longer.<\/p>Professor Tasha Lewis<\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

“I love shopping and fashion, but now I try to think about longevity and versatility. I pick things that I could wear with a bunch of other things, that I could wear longer. I look at what the fabric is made of, because if it\u2019s all one content it can be recycled. So I\u2019m trying to make an informed decision beyond, \u2018This is cute, I should get it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as her student Roberts observes, extremely inexpensive clothing is inherently unsustainable\u2014particularly when you factor in elements such as the conditions in which it was made and the carbon footprint of shipping raw materials and finished goods around the globe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYounger consumers go shopping and buy the $10 dress; that\u2019s what they can afford, and they\u2019ve become accustomed to the idea that this will maybe make it through the season but probably not much longer than that,\u201d Roberts says. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of work to be done to shift that thinking, because in sustainable fashion, that simply can\u2019t be the cost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It wasn\u2019t the company that got squeezed on the price of that $10 dress, it was the workers; there were a lot of people in the production pipeline that had to make sacrifices for it to be that price. So it\u2019s educating people about the idea that you have to invest in your clothes, but ideally you\u2019re getting something more out of it too. You don\u2019t have to discard this after one season; you\u2019re buying something of quality that you can keep in your wardrobe for quite a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Shreds
Shredded material processed by the Fiberizer. (Photo by Jason Koski\/Cornell University)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n

Originally planning on a career in social work\u2014her undergrad major\u2014Roberts switched gears after college and studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology and Parsons School of Design, then earned a master\u2019s in fashion studies at CUNY. She\u2019s now pursuing a PhD in apparel design on the Hill, currently gearing up for a thesis project in which she\u2019ll study American designers and brands who are centering their businesses around repurposing textiles traditionally considered waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSustainable fashion is a very broad topic, because there are so many steps to production and so many stakeholders, and it\u2019s a global industry,\u201d Roberts notes. \u201cSustainability can feel like a shell game, because different parts of the supply chain are happening all over the world. It\u2019s easy for it to be \u2018out of sight, out of mind.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New life for airline uniforms<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another PhD student studying under Lewis, Cindy Cordoba Arroyo, is also researching ways to keep garments out of the landfill\u2014but with a particular focus. Arroyo is studying how to make airline uniforms last longer and how they might best be recycled when they come to the end of their useful lives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPost-consumer textile waste is a problem\u2014but uniforms are an even bigger issue, because they\u2019re branded and they have security concerns,\u201d says Arroyo, who did a sustainability internship with United Airlines in 2019. \u201cSo it\u2019s really difficult to dispose of uniforms in a responsible manner.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she explains, since it\u2019s vital that only authorized personnel have access to uniforms worn by airline staff, they can\u2019t be donated like typical clothing. And flight attendants in particular go through a lot of them: their jobs, which involve interacting with the public and serving food and beverages, are hard on their uniforms, which are generally replaced every 12 to 18 months. Arroyo is studying ways that these uniforms can be redesigned so they can last longer\u2014for example, by adding protective coatings\u2014with an eye toward ensuring that they can be easily disassembled and recycled after they\u2019re retired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A native of Colombia, Arroyo is another avid proponent of a \u201ccircular\u201d approach to preventing waste in the apparel industry, envisioning a future in which materials used to make clothing rarely end up in the landfill but are instead repurposed and reborn. She hosts a Spanish-language podcast, Moda Circular<\/em><\/a>, that showcases designers, entrepreneurs, and scholars working toward sustainability in the fashion industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCircularity is creating a system where materials have different life cycles,\u201d says Arroyo. \u201cAs designers, we have a responsibility to make things that improve people\u2019s lives and have more positive than negative impact. We can ignore the impact of what we do\u2014or we can think about what\u2019s next for what we create.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Top image: A pile of used clothing at a flea market. (Photo by iStock)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Published October 5, 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Castoff clothing and other items add some 25 billion pounds to U.S. landfills each year\u2014but Hum Ec researchers aim to change that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":1922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"alumni_hub_syml_posts":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[227],"tags":[],"cornell_year_post":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-beyond"],"yoast_head":"\nStemming the Tide of Textile Waste - Cornellians | Cornell University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cornell professor Tasha Lewis and her graduate students research ways to reduce textile waste.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alumni.cornell.edu\/cornellians\/reducing-textile-waste\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stemming the Tide of Textile Waste - 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